UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-JP Morgan cuts Assured Guaranty

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July 22 (Reuters) - J.P. Morgan Securities downgraded bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd (AGO.N) to "neutral" from "overweight," citing Moody's decision to put its top rating on the company under review.

Moody's Investors Service said on Monday it may cut its top ratings on Assured Guaranty due to concerns about securities it guarantees and raising questions over the future need for bond insurance.

"Although we view the commentary from Moody's as extremely vague, we feel the rating agency is taking an ultra-conservative stance given its sustained misjudegment of the larger and more troubled bond insurers over the last 12 months," JP Morgan analyst Andrew Wessel wrote in a note to clients.

Wessel said he no longer believed the comopany will have significant insured production growth through 2009, and lowered his 2008 earnings estimate on the company to $2.00 a share from $2.10.

The rate cuts could be "the early stage of the end for the broader bond insurance market in its current form," he said.

Shares of the company closed at $18.75 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Adveith Nair in Bangalore; Editing by Jarshad Kakkrakandy)